Becoming modern at any cost

The ISI once again demonstrated its sensitivity by a free and freestyle demo of weeping and heel-drumming. After all, why should the ISI take all the blame? When Afghanistan is stuffed with foreign intelligence agencies like the CIA and RAW, such incidents are bound to happen, without the ISI getting its due share. As a result, the PM demanded evidence. Since the demand was made in Seraiki, and was understood in Potohari, one wonders how much was really passed on, but the ISI reaction has been too behave like a three-year-old. No organization manned by so many officials of above Grade 19 has behaved like a small child except the sensitive agencies. They insist on being allowed to grow out their hair, not so much as a clever and foolproof disguise, but because they don’t like the slogans which follow them in the markets when they go out with their haircuts (which look more like expert demolition jobs than haircuts).

The PM must have realized that in return for unrivalled opportunities to give demonstrations of local traditions, he has to work very hard, defending an agency which is so sensitive that it is devoted to preventing two things: first, any interference in the work of the executive; second, any embarrassment to the President. President Bush probably tested him for both, and found he was duly committed to both goals. And Bush was not concerned about the Indian Embassy in Kabul, but whether the ISI was working on the issues of non-interference and non-embarrassment. But the big disadvantage is that he spends so much time away from not just Multan, but Pakistan too.